Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

I'm considering purchasing a lightened 9" gear set, my concern is it's for a super stock stick car and I'm wondering about deflection being an issue. Any thoughts or experience would be appreciated.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

All I ever saw from my lightened gear sets was shorter life. No performance gains. I even wasted money on track rental, swapped gear sets at the track. Ran both gear sets back-to-back within an hour. Same ET & MPH. Told myself “Oh well,?It can’t hurt”. Wrong.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Also, saw no up or down side to my light spool. Many “Has to be worth something” pieces on my car.
And, I’m very old and from Oklahoma, so........

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

I very much doubt you will see any measurable difference in performance, same with gun drilled axles, alum spools and lightweight driveshafts. I did a same day back to back alum vs steel driveshaft test (13# vs 10#) and saw zero performance difference. That being said, unless you are on a budget, I would do everything within reason to reduce rotating weight regardless. For what it's worth, I just ordered a new 3rd member and paid the extra for the lite weight parts so am taking my own advice.

Jim Caughlin
SS 6019

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

We have run back to back a lightened ring gear and a regular ring gear and found no gain what so ever and this is with SS stick car. Save your money just get a regular gear set.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Never saw gains on rotational parts close to the centerline if I have posted this right. You start to see benefits when you get into tires and wheels etc. That being said anything lighter that doesn't hurt durability can't be bad,depends on your budget.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Thanks for the info guys. I think I'll pass on the lightening process.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Thought on something Billy has talked about. If someone were to change to All of the lite stuff in the rear, doing the A-B style test. Any difference in ET?

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Changing from a 10 bolt 8.5 diff to a 12 bolt
Both with light components and set up the same
way there is a difference slowed .04-.05

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Aluminum driveshaft, rifle drilled axles, light ring gear 14 lbs lighter and zero gain in ET on a 3500 lb BBC

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

If more folks studied rotational INERTIA more than reading the hype of suppliers of lightweight parts, they would save lots more money. IF one spent more time on reducing the rotational inertia of the flywheel /clutch/converter AND the wheels/tires then there would be a more effective approach. Looking under the streetlight for low hanging performance fruit is cheaper and involves more common sense.Out in the shadows gets more expensive and much more questionable in results.;)
Regards to All that like this kind of stuff,:D
HB2:)
Dissident

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Yes, nothing in the trans, or rear end, is large enough diameter to have a measurable effect on inertia to show up on your time slip. Hard to imagine how low the hp would be required to see anything on the time slip. Wish I had the time & money back I wasted on parts & track rentals testing, because “there HAS to be something there!”

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

You are correct, no observable performance improvement from lightweight rearend parts. On the other hand, reduction in weight and diameter of flywheel and clutch made huge performance improvements.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Just remember that the only things turning engine RPM (more or less) is the driveshaft, companion flange and pinion gear.

Anything that turns engine speed has to be deaccelerated and accelerated numinous times depending on how many forward gears you have, which will result in a much greater benifit

If your finish line RPM is 8500 and you use a 5.86 rear gear everything to the rear of the pinion gear is turning 1450 RPM.

Whatever your tach says just divide by 5.86 to get rotational speeds all the way down the track and best of all it only has to be accelerated once.

Might be very hard to establish a base line.

Just my 2 cents and something to think about.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Opportunity to place that weight above the suspension.
Benefitting traction or making car lighter for class.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Wow ! Dan posted something that almost everyone can agree on !!

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

OK, so lightweight driveline components don't provide any performance gain. But they still look really cool, all shiny and machined and lightweight and different. And we spend a ton of money on them, which automatically makes them cooler than regular stuff. And we get the excitement of ordering with the credit card, and then the anticipation of waiting for UPS to bring them in colorful boxes. And everybody else has them, so we have to have them too, just to keep up. And it's really fun to name-drop the names of the manufacturers, in conversation in the staging lanes or at the trailer. They still make our wife mad (which is good), because they represent race car expense (not kitchen remodeling expense). And finally, we just somehow FEEL faster with an aluminum spool, bolt-through differential carrier and 40-spline, gun-drilled axles, don't we? Just lookin' for a silver lining here...

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

I've always used this math equation..

$$$$ SPENT = E.T. IMPROVEMENT

What is the E.T. IMPROVEMENT for each dollar spent....

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

lol

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Stick cars usually run pro or standard gears?

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Weight is weight. Lighter is better; faster or allows the weight you have to carry to be put where it is most beneficial. Dollars per pound reduction from the car is a consideration. Sprung vs. unsprung. Steel vs. aluminum vs. titanium. Mild Steel vs. Chrome-Moly. Fiberglass vs. carbon. The old expression is - The best way to save 100 pounds is find 100 places to remove a pound.

What about the lightweight transmission parts?

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

When I ran my 68 Impala 396/325 stick car I initially ran a standard gear, after 17 passes those blew up. Switched to Pro Gear lasted up to 100 passes in that car, same set and rear in my 65 Impala stick I will be running.

Will Lamprecht
65 Imp G,H,I Stock

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Pro gears definitely! Of course, no matter what you do, the clutch you run and how you set it up has to be part of the conversation

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

way back about 15 years ago I did some back to back testing between 1.82 and 1.76 planetary and the 1.76 lost almost a dime in my 10. second V-6 powered Gen 3 Camaro.
how much was due to the .06 in gear ratio?? not sure. My thought was weight of the rotating mass. It didn't pull of the gear change as quick..
I've always thought about building a 1.82 alloy planetary.

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

With the quality of the ring and pinions, and the weight of your car, ( ie not a comp car) doubt its worth the risk....jus sayin

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

OK, so the consensus is that lightened ring gears are not of any value. How does everyone feel about the other available ring and pinion treatments, cryo, shot-peening and micro-polishing (which MW calls Supra-Fin)? I'm going to make a gear change before spring, and think I'll opt for cryo treatment, but that will be it. Any strong evidence to change my plan?

Re: Thoughts on lightened ring gears?
 

Most are shoot penned in production at some phase.